So now you can get Lomography’s retro-inspired Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens GOLD PLATED (not actually properly solid gold) in addition to the existing silver, black and brass finishes. We don’t normally use all caps for anything, but this particular piece of news seemed to deserve it.
The historial allusion comes from a historic event in 1839 where a Chevalier Achromat lens was attached to a Daguerreotype camera. This lens design “bathed images in an alluring veil of light and created hazy, soft pictures”. So this is a modern re-interpretation designed to be soft and dreamy wide open at f/2.9 but sharp at f/5.6 and beyond.
Not surprisingly, you can forget about autofocus. You can also forget about a regular aperture adjustment too. This lens does not have a conventional adjustable diaphragm but instead uses drop-in ‘waterhouse plates’ with holes of the appropriate size for each aperture setting. Just don’t lose any.
There are also specially-shaped plates for producing star-shaped, heart-shaped or snowflake-shaped bokeh effects (and more).
Lomography has made a bit of a speciality of recreating these old-fashioned lenses, usually funding them via kickstarter campaigns. They’re not cheap, and they do demand a return to a older, slower way of working. You also have to expect a very different kind of image rendition to today’s super-sharp digitally-optimised optics.
The bad news is that this gold plated bad boy will cost you $549 in the Lomography shop. The good news is that the regular version is down to $399.
Specifications
Focal Length: 64mm
Maximum Aperture: f/2.9
Apertures: Waterhouse aperture stops, up to f/16
Lens Mounting Profile: Canon EF, Nikon F
Closest Focusing Distance: 0.5m
Focusing Mechanism: helicoid
Image circle: 44mm
Field of view: 37 degrees
Filter Thread: 40.5mm
Electronic Contacts: No
Lens Construction: 2 elements in 1 group
The Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens is a full frame lens and available in Canon EF and Nikon F DSLR mounts.